Several CT bills would limit public access to records through FOIA

By: Andrew Brown and Jenna Carlesso, May 5, 2025

Lawmakers have advanced several bills that could limit which records are accessible to the public or alter how public meetings are conducted.

Connecticut lawmakers are considering a long list of bills that could change which government records are accessible to the public or alter how public meetings are conducted in the state.

Altogether, lawmakers have advanced more than a dozen pieces of legislation that seek to restrict the types of records that people can obtain through the state’s Freedom of Information Act, which was passed in 1975 to provide an avenue for the public to learn how their state and local governments are operating.

Colleen Murphy, the executive director of the Freedom of Information Commission, which oversees disputes regarding the state’s open record law, said the number of bills seeking to roll back portions of the Freedom of Information Act this year is substantial.

“I think that this is a lot, and I think there are a few that are pretty sweeping and that cause us the most concern,” said Murphy, who is also a board member of the National Freedom of Information Coalition.

“A lot of this is a slow creep or death by a thousand paper cuts,” said Murphy, who spends each session trying to educate lawmakers on the law.